[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The GreatViews expressed here are not necessarily the views & opinions of ActivistChat.com. Comments are unmoderated. Abusive remarks may be deleted. ActivistChat.com retains the rights to all content/IP info in in this forum and may re-post content elsewhere.

My humble view is that this whole Presidential Election run-off in the Mullah regime, has been designed and programmed by no one else but the famous snake Rafsanjani himself !!!
Why?
First, to show to the world and the specially Western media that the Mullah's election has a transparency thus having a run-off and therefore legitimate. They think that so far they have been very successful in fooling the Western media anyway, since they believe all their lies, cons and deceits at every occasion.
Secondly, they attempt to frighten the Iranian people for the possibility of having a hardliner such as Ahmadinejad (not to say that Rafsanjani isn't a hard-liner) for President, therefore having them come to the voting booths at the run-off election and vote for Rafsanjani instead.

This has been a spectacular and smart ploy by Rafsanjani and the regime as a whole, since the winner will be Rafsanjani and the regime!!!
What a brilliant bunch of barbarians!!!!!

Conceivably there's an actual power struggle going on between those actually crazy enough to believe in the regime's ideology (represented by the hard-liner candidate) and all the rest, who are trying to keep the regime in power long enough to get those nuclear warheads in place.

It might actually hasten the Liberation if the hardliner is allowed (or even helped) to win. If men wearing earrings and women wearing lipstick were beaten or killed again, that might help motivate the young people get their pleasure seeking behinds out of their cars and night clubs and on to the streets. Rafsanjani is talking about loosening things enough to anesthetize the youth until the Armageddon devices are in place._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

The point in all of this here is not that there may be a struggle between factions (there is no faction in principle), but that the winner in this election the way it has been designed will be for sure Rafsanjani.
Rasker, you are right that Rafsanjani will be loosening up on the young and their lifestyles a bit, to get them off their back until they can get their nuclear BOMB !!!
Now, the point for us all is to : Call the regime's and Rafsanjani's Bluff this time and let them know that they cannot fool us forever and we know what they are up to and it ain't gonna work!!!

There could be some genuine conflicts within the structure of the regime here that might be exploitable by supporters of Liberation. It's just a question of whether Liberation can be accomplished before the nukes are in place or not. On the other hand, it could well be a simple shell-game or puppet-play to distract the peasants while their pockets are being picked.

Hardliners plot to frustrate Rafsanjani's bid for power
By Angus McDowall in Tehran

20 June 2005

As Iran faces a choice between a conservative cleric and a hardliner in the presidential run-off, details emerged of a sophisticated campaign by fundamentalists that has put Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in contention for the top office.

Although many Iranians still believe Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will easily win Friday's vote, the last-minute surge in support for the Tehran mayor has put the result in doubt.

Mr Ahmadinejad won decisive backing from the Islamic Basij militia, whose members were privately told to vote for him. Associates of rival fundamentalist Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf said in private that Basij commanders and right-leaning Friday prayer leaders told conservative families to switch their support to reflect shifting poll figures.

"In the days before the poll he benefited from some extensive and unusual facilities," former reformist vice-president, Mohammed Ali Abtahi, said. "They organised the armed forces, secured a fatwa in his support from [hardliner] Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi and used intimidation to reduce the reformist vote." As late as Thursday, the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard was trailing on 5 per cent support but staged a sudden shock run to take 19 per cent of the vote. A furious Mr Qalibaf is rumoured to have considered giving his support to the more moderate Mr Rafsanjani in protest at what he considers a betrayal.

But Mr Ahmadinejad's vote was already swelling. "He appeals to the blue collar workers and low-income classes by presenting himself as the champion of the poor," said Shirzad Bozorghmehr, the editor of the English language Iran News.

Mr Ahmadinejad was little known before he took control of Tehran city council in 2003, the first in a series of electoral setbacks for reformists. He had won plaudits for his efficient running of Ardebil province as governor general, and has spoken fiercely about protecting Iran's nuclear rights.

His tenure as Tehran mayor saw an increase in public spending on war veterans, the very poor and a campaign against corruption. But it also included attempts to roll back the greater freedoms won by the reformists. Mr Ahmadinejad is believed to be close to the Basij militia and Ansar-e Hizbollah, which shocked the world with their attacks on pro-reformist students in 1999 and 2003.

He also has a strong relationship with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. If he wins Friday's run-off, the leader would enjoy unprecedented support among the country's top officials. The heads of the judiciary, Guardian Council, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the speaker of parliament are close allies, and a fundamentalist president would further strengthen their hand. This could damage Iran's relations with the West and lead to greater crackdowns on freedom of speech and human rights.

Mr Rafsanjani campaigned against that possibility. Although he is close to the clerical elite, he regards the emergence of young hardliners as a challenge to his power and has fought them since the 1990s. His camp hopes to inherit all the reformist votes won by Mr Karroubi and Mostafa Moin, as well as non-voters in the first round._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

Now, the point for us all is to : Call the regime's and Rafsanjani's Bluff this time and let them know that they cannot fool us forever and we know what they are up to and it ain't gonna work!!!

I agree on that, Shiraz. But the only way to do that is to paralyze the country with a General Strike until the regime leaves or is thrown out. If anything like that has started, or even been called, I've seen no sign of it._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

Hmm, here's an alternate scenario: Could Rafsanjani be persuaded to become an Iranian Ataturk, that is, depose the Fuehrer Khamenei and the Guardian Council-the whole unelected power structure - with support of the masses and such police and military as come over? He's 70 years old after all. If he should happen to be elected by popular vote, and in the event of civil conflict calls for US recognition and aid for a popular coalition against the old regime forces, his position as elected presiden and his prestige among the "old Europe" types might give Bush the necessary cover for some limited intervention.

Qalibaf sounded pretty angry with what was done with his candidacy as well, he might be worth feeling out also. Not to mention Moeen and the third place challenger. Might these folks be ready to "step across the aisle", to discretely give aid to the Liberation?

(Btw, isn't it strange that people try so hard to occupy what is ultimately only an advisory position, running half a government with the help of an advisory legislature?)

Just a mischievous early morning thought._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

See Ledeen's "Larry, Moe and Rafsanjani" column posted for more speculation about what exactly happened, including the two million Pakistani's bussed in and the many millions of forged ballots.

Boy, will the main stream media flacks who took the regime's differing figures at face value ever wind up looking like stupid, foolish, lazy, overpaid hacks!!!!! ROFLMAO!!_________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

Let's suppose there's an genuine intention to declare Ahmedinejab president despite any popular vote against him in second round. Wouldn't the popular outrage over this travesty be the perfect time to surge into the streets?_________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

There's been plenty of opportunities for popular outrage to spill into some kind of a surge in street action till date ... the problem is the Mullah$ crackdown hard, and the people, completely ignored by the world, are disillusioned and tired of getting beaten, jailed and screwed with no one caring.

What will make the surge happen this time, is the extent to which the rest of the world backs the people in deligitimising Rafsanjani. But given the fact that the safety of Christian Amanpour's family in Iran is CNN's editoral policy, it looks like the main international press will continue to kiss Rafsanjani'$ a$$. Now if Bush, the right-wingers, and Neo Cons can finally earn their keep by not letting up on Iran, then maybe some of that can spill over into Europe, where hopefully some people who still have a concience left will look beyond the bribes and do the right thing by the Iranian people. O course the fact that its the Bushies needless to say, will alienate many in Europe, but then again thats life ...

And the same way the Bushies will be deligitimising Raf$an Jaani, Raf$anjani will be working double time bribing his contacts in the west for the exact opposite! And Rafi has as many connections as the Bush people.

Meanwhile, whatever happened to journalistic integrity, objectivity etc. The journalist covering Iran elections for CNN has family living in Iran who can be easily harmed by the regime, Duh, isn't that like a classic conflict of interest that someone at CNN should be paying attention to and reconsidering?!

My son has 15 years old. One month ago he told me that , Akbar Koose will be president with vote more than damn Khatami.I was surprised and ask hime how do you know? He told me that here is the senarrio: Regime knows people and according to 8 years ago election experience that Nategh was in front of Khatami and people vote Khatami, because of Nategh. Now they put Ahmaghi Nejad beside Koose and I promise you that Rafsanjani will be raiees jomhoor with vote more than Khatami. Yes, now I see he was right. All these election movement is for one goal: Akbar Koose, must be new iran's raiees jomhoor with vote even more than Khatami